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Beyond December's Games

By

Stacey L. Bradford smartmoney

Updated Dec. 7, 2003 12:01 a.m. ET

Every December, stock prices get yanked around by a couple of year-end rituals, and it's happening right now. Some stocks get buffeted by "tax selling" as investors shed their losers in order to harvest losses to cut next April's tax bill. Others get jolted by game-playing money managers who lock in this year's gains by selling stocks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, fervently hoping that no late-December rally arrives to make them look foolish.